Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) Shares Down 0.4% on Insider Selling

Arista Networks, Inc. (NYSE:ANET) shares dropped 0.4% during mid-day trading on Thursday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $105.48 and last traded at $106.85. Approximately 802,075 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 91% from the average daily volume of 8,814,710 shares. The stock had previously closed at $107.23.

Specifically, insider John F. Mccool sold 288 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.70, for a total transaction of $31,305.60. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Kenneth Duda sold 80,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $108.29, for a total transaction of $8,663,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 12,976 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,171.04. This trade represents a 86.04 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Ratings Changes

ANET has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Piper Sandler restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.25 target price (up from $86.25) on shares of Arista Networks in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Barclays decreased their target price on Arista Networks from $495.00 to $125.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 4th. StockNews.com cut shares of Arista Networks from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price objective on shares of Arista Networks from $66.25 to $80.00 and gave the company a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, November 8th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Arista Networks from $92.25 to $106.25 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, November 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and fifteen have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $98.88.

Arista Networks Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average price of $100.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $90.84. The firm has a market cap of $141.58 billion, a PE ratio of 53.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.10.

Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The technology company reported $0.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.52 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $1.81 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.76 billion. Arista Networks had a return on equity of 30.52% and a net margin of 40.29%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 20.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.41 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Arista Networks, Inc. will post 1.96 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Arista Networks

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 0.6% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 56,320 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $21,617,000 after acquiring an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas purchased a new position in Arista Networks in the third quarter valued at about $13,283,000. American Trust increased its position in Arista Networks by 71.7% in the 3rd quarter. American Trust now owns 4,382 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,682,000 after purchasing an additional 1,830 shares during the last quarter. Old North State Trust LLC raised its stake in shares of Arista Networks by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter. Old North State Trust LLC now owns 1,371 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $526,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Arista Networks by 16.3% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 979,592 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $405,032,000 after buying an additional 137,564 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 82.47% of the company’s stock.

About Arista Networks

Arista Networks, Inc engages in the development, marketing, and sale of data-driven, client to cloud networking solutions for data center, campus, and routing environments in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. Its cloud networking solutions consist of Extensible Operating System (EOS), a publish-subscribe state-sharing networking operating system offered in combination with a set of network applications.